Shaq Would Take Brook Lopez and Andrew Bynum Over Dwight Howard, and the Lakers' Center Fired Back

"“We as players, we always watch people before us. When I came in it was Patrick Ewing and Hakeem Olajuwon, guys who played like true centers who played inside. What we have now are centers that are going to the European style, which is a lot of pick-and-roll. Dwight Howard, who’s a pick-and-roll player, some people say he’s the best center in the league, but me being an old-school center, I’m going to go with Robin Lopez and Andrew Bynum because they play with their back to the basket.” O’Neal is later asked if he meant Brook Lopez, not his twin brother, Robin. “Brook. Same thing. They’re brothers.”"

Well, that makes complete sense. Dwight Howard is nothing but dunks and blocks. Got it. Howard, who doesn’t seem to have the nasty streak O’Neal did, was grilled about the comments Thursday:

"“Shaq played the game and he is done,” Howard told reporters on Thursday. “It’s time to move on. He hated the fact when he played that older guys were talking about him and how he played. Now he’s doing the exact same thing. Just let it go. There’s no sense for him to be talking trash to me. He did his thing in the league. Sit back and relax. “Your time is up.”"

Well-played, Dwight. Hopefully, this puts the non-troversy to rest. You know, until Howard is on the cusp of helping Kobe win his 6th title, which would tie him with Jordan. At that point, will Kobe vault Shaq and Magic and become the greatest Laker of all-time? I expect plenty of swinging at the Lakers this year from current players to former players to media members. The Lakers are the new Heat.